Mike Nadel: Rams give Bears nice break from NFL grind

Monday

Nov 24, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 24, 2008 at 6:39 AM

Adewale Ogunleye? Tommie Harris? Those guys are still on the team? Who knew? It was that kind of day for the Chicago Bears, who picked the perfect week to schedule a scrimmage against a junior-varsity opponent. (Sorry if that insulted any 15-year-old footballers out there.)

Mike Nadel

Adewale Ogunleye? Tommie Harris? Those guys are still on the team? Who knew?

It was that kind of day for the Chicago Bears, who picked the perfect week to schedule a scrimmage against a junior-varsity opponent. (Sorry if that insulted any 15-year-old footballers out there.)

"On the road, you have to impose your will on the other team," Ogunleye said after Sunday's 27-3 victory over a team claiming to be the St. Louis Rams. "It was a big statement for us."

Indeed, and the statement was: Thank God we didn't have to play Green Bay again - or any other actual NFL team.

"It was good to be productive," linebacker Lance Briggs said. "We needed a game like this."

Well, sure. It's great when every play unfolds exactly as it was drawn up in the meeting room - you know, where there's no opponent at all.

Just about every time Matt Forte took a handoff, there was a hole the size of Terrell Owens' ego. Even backup Adrian Peterson averaged seven yards. Kyle Orton had so much time to throw, he probably got bored - which might explain his ho-hum second half.

On defense, just about every time the Bears ran a stunt or twist, one of their linemen got into the quarterback's face. Ogunleye and Harris, who barely had sniffed a QB all season, had two sacks each. Ogunleye knocked Marc Bulger out of the game early, and the entire defense made Trent Green's life miserable the rest of the day.

And when the Bears got fancy - as they did with Devin Hester, running a reverse on the first play from scrimmage and later letting him take a direct snap from the "wildcat" formation - the team claiming to be the Rams pretty much stepped out of Hester's way.

"It's not only fun to do it but it's got to be fun to watch, too," Hester said of his expanded role. "It brings a little more excitement to our offense and puts the defense on their heels. That's what we need to keep doing."

It will be interesting to see what the Bears do from here. Their most recent actual NFL opponent, Green Bay, whipped them physically, mentally, psychologically and every other "ally" possible.

According to sources, a legitimate pro team will show up for next Sunday's prime-time game in Minnesota; coming off an impressive victory in Jacksonville, the Vikings are 6-5 and tied with the Bears atop the NFC North.

When judging Chicago's heroes, it's prudent to be cautious and to keep things in perspective.

For example, the Bears led 24-3 at halftime Sunday. As nice as that sounds, the team claiming to be the Rams trailed San Francisco 35-3 at intermission the previous week. And the week before that, the New York Jets took a 40-0 halftime lead against the alleged Rams.

Once upon a time, the Rams were The Greatest Show on Turf. Now? Try The Sorriest Show in Football. Most fans at the Edward Jones Dome were cheering for the Bears. Those wearing Rams blue and gold booed so often, it was as if Rex Grossman had been traded to St. Louis.

Fortunately, the Bears seemed to realize they weren't playing the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Afterward, they even seemed humble, which hasn't been the norm for this bunch of overhyped, underachieving, overpaid, underproducing gentlemen.

"We won in dominating fashion, but we've still got Green Bay in the back of our heads," Ogunleye said. "We know that if we play our 'A' game, we’ll play well. And if we don’t, we’ll get smashed. We've got to ... not rest on the fact that we've got Pro Bowlers. We've got to literally reset our minds and play hard."

Gee, ya think?

Though the Bears made some strategic changes - such as getting Hester more involved on offense, replacing him on kickoff returns with Danieal Manning and repositioning linebackers to take away quick slant passes - the biggest adjustment was attitudinal. Coach Lovie Smith's theme: The past is history; it's all about the six-game "season" that began Sunday.

"We are gonna define this season based on what we do from here on out," Smith said. "It's a good start."

But it's only a start. Each future opponent has promised to send its varsity.

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